Producers of the Radio 4 'Today' programme searched out Tony Benn for comment
on the Ed Miliband row with the 'Daily Mail'.

The BBC’s desperation to stoke the row between Ed Miliband and the Daily Mail led producers of the Radio 4 Today programme to search out Tony Benn, who now lives in a warden-controlled retirement flat.

The hard-Left former Cabinet minister, who was a close friend of Ed’s father, the Marxist historian Ralph Miliband, said: “Well, I knew him quite well. He was much older than me, of course, 'cause he’s Ed’s father, and Ed’s, well, more of my generation.”

If Miliband Snr were still alive, he would be one year older than Benn, who is 88.

Rendell probes case of lost seat

Ruth Rendell is struggling with 'The Case of the Upper Chamber’, which even her hero, Chief Insp Reginald Wexford, would have problems solving.

The case involves the number of newly elected peers which are being added to the House of Lords, making it increasingly overcrowded.

Baroness Rendell of Babergh says that when she returns next week after the summer recess, “it will be worse” adding: “It’s getting to the point where you can’t sit down in the chamber if there’s anything people want to attend.”

The 83-year-old detective author, who became a Labour peer in 1997, adds: “I don’t care for people who are given peerages who have paid for them. I think it happens, and I don’t like that.”